


Reception

by Anara_Muse



Series: Freduary's OTP Collection [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Modern AU, Not Magical AU, Sirius Black Is Not Dead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 16:09:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9556424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anara_Muse/pseuds/Anara_Muse
Summary: Hermione doesn’t have a problem with Ron Weasley getting married. Just as long as she’s not forced to watch the ceremony, she’ll be perfectly fine. Of course, Harry has different plans.





	

     “Harry, I am _not_ going to my ex’s wedding! This is ridiculous! You know he only sent that invitation because his fiancee made him. He doesn’t want me there, and I’m not going. I already RSVP'd with a no.” 

“His fiancee has a name, Mione. You two even went to that fancy all-girls’ boarding school together! Put aside your different tastes in men and go because you are supporting Susan.” Harry looked at his other best friend and put his hands on her shoulders. “ _ Please _ , don’t make me go alone. You know Ginny will hit on me, and I cannot handle that right now.”

“Not all’s fair in love and war, huh, Harry?” Hermione teased, hoping inanely to get out of the spotlight.

“Nice try,” Harry smirked. “But if gossip will get you to go…”

Hermione dodged the dangling carrot. “I don’t need it badly enough.”

“I’ll even tell you her name,” he cajoled, sweetening the deal.

Hermione narrowed her eyes, weighing out the pros and cons. After a moment of silence, she made her decision. “Fine. Tell me, and  _ if _ I am satisfied with the information, I’ll go as your plus one o _ nly _ since you are struggling in the whole love life situation.”

“Doesn’t look like you have much room to speak there, Mione, love.” He paused, looking a little uncomfortable. After a tense moment, Harry said, “Sirius doesn’t want me dating a “ditz,” as he terms it. Says it’s bad for my image as football star, working towards my Master in Visual Art and Design,  _ and _ getting ready for the draft pick.”

“And this girl fits Sirius’ description of a ditz?”

“Yeah.”

“How?” she asked impatiently.

“Blonde hair, skinny, head in the clouds. But she doesn't fit in so many ways at the same time!”

“The most important ways?” Hermione interrupted.

“Yeah. She has the softest, most musical voice, she’s kind, and just because she’s a little...weird, I guess, she’s automatically classified as the stereotypical blond idiot. But she’s so intelligent! She skipped a year and placed second in her class. Just because she’s blonde and a little...different, yes, that’s the word. Just because Luna’s different doesn’t mean she’s a ditz.” Harry said, starting to get upset.

“Harry, I don’t think some of those physical qualities you named really matter in whether or not Luna is a ditz. Wait. Harry James Potter! Luna. As in Lovegood? As in the girl who almost beat me for Top of Class? She’s basically a certifiable genius! Yes, she’s a little eccentric, but being normal isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be, either. Why, I have half a mind to call Luna up right now and ask her out in proxy of you. Who care what Sirius thinks? He obviously has never seen her at work. She’s a brilliant public school teacher! Most of her female pupils end up in Hogwarts!”

“The problem is, Siri met her when she was thirteen, and had that giant eagle hat on her head to support your group in your campaign of ‘Academic Awareness: Books over Brawn?’”

“Ah, yes, the boycott against the jocks and their sports of all houses, but especially the Gryffs. I admit, I went off the deep end a bit. And Luna kind of followed suit.”

“And Sirius can’t see past that one incident. Mione, that was ten years ago!”

“Hermione looked at her friend sympathetically and replied, “I don’t really know what I can say, Harry. Except...should I wear my house dress from graduation that I still miraculously fit in, my black dress with a yellow brooch for Susan, or should I match you?”

Harry smiled triumphantly, his own woes momentarily forgotten. “Be yourself, Hermione Granger. It’s what you do best.”

                                                                                                                 ~*~

Hermione looked over her left shoulder, and he was still there. Just standing. Just staring. At  _ her _ . She checker her dress again, just to make sure she--or Harry--hadn’t spilled anything on it. Really, Harry’s table manners were almost as atrocious as R--as her ex’s. Hermione finally tore her eyes away from the silent, attractive starer. He was too attractive, really, which was why she couldn’t believe he was looking at her just to... _ look _ .

She reached for the champagne Harry had set in front of her earlier before he had started looking for Luna. Not that looking for a blonde beauty in a sunlit yellow dress should be that difficult, but she seemed to have completely disappeared. Come to think of it, Harry was nowhere to be found either…

Hermione sipped from her glass a little, and almost spilled it all over her dress. She had finally decided on her graduation gown; a navy blue number with sheer bronze cap sleeves and bronze trim which managed to look very elegant and sophisticated. It was was also bloody expensive. Satisfied nothing had spilled on her, she turned sharply toward the voice d that had start l ed her. “Excuse me?” she asked primly.

“So sorry, love,” said the starer from earlier. “I was just asking how you enjoyed the wedding. I won’t ask about the reception, as I’ve been able to see just how well you’ve liked it.” the gorgeous auburn haired man slipped in easily beside her, right into the chair that had been empty for the whole reception. On the plate in front of the chair read “F. Weasley.” To say that Hermione hadn’t been relieved a relative of her ex’s her  decided not to show would have been a gross lie. But principles were principles, and you don’t just sit in a chair reserved for someone else, even if they hadn’t bothered to show!

“Excuse me, but what’s your name?” Hermione asked, ignoring his outrageous statement about watching her, and desperately trying not to go off on a spiel about proper etiquette when it wasn’t necessary--especially if the recipient of that spiel was this rather gorgeous man. 

“Yes, it’s the height of rudeness to sit in another’s chair, isn’t it? I’m sure your headmistress has given you girl s a few talking tos about proper etiquette.” He smirked at Hermione’s indignant expression, but spoke again before she could go on a tirade about her beloved Headmistress McGonagall. “But names are so boring, don’t you think? I’d like to describe myself first.” He pushed on before Hermione could interrupt and scold. “You learn so much about the listener. 

“For example, how would you react if I told you in  Beauxbatons I was a prankster, never truly applied myself, and dropped out right before graduating? By your repressed facial reactions, and that lovely dress you’re wearing, I would say you’re studious, dedicated to learning, if not a bookworm to boot. You disapprove of anyone who doesn’t take school and learning seriously, as seems to be apparent by my confession. As such, you dislike pranks or fun of any sort.” 

Here, Hermione broke her silence. “How dare you! You know nothing about me, and yet you presume to know--and critique--who I am by my dress!” she spluttered angrily.

The man simply tsked at her outrage. “I also looked at your facial expressions, love.” Laughing a little at Hermione’s rage, he forged on. “You haven’t let me finish. Obviously you would toss out the fact that I’m blindingly hilarious and extremely talented in what I do. Why? Because my brother and I run a joke shop, not a school, even if it is the most successful in all of England, and donates a fourth of our profits every other month to the Hogwarts Academy for Gifted Young Women, and the other months to it’s orphanage. All you would see is I dropped out of school and run a store whose products do not better the consumers. You wouldn’t see that I’ve now graduated and am now in university for a double major in English and Business. All you would see if that it was at my mother’s insistence. You can’t see me because I haven’t followed your mapped out path for everyone.” He said, almost savagely, but more sadly. 

_      Sadly? For whom? It couldn’t be for me,  _ Hermione thought. The two stared at  each other for a moment or two before Hermione started “You…” she stopped short. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean,” she trailed off contritely. 

     “Of course not, Miss Granger,” The auburn man smiled brightly, as if that whole bitter diatribe was now completely forgotten. “It’s how you were raised. A dentist father and a university professor for a mother. Without a formal education, how can you be anything? Trust me, Mione, that’s not always the case.” 

     Hermione was completely bewildered, her mind honing in on one thing. “How do you know my name?”

     “I’m afraid that 's a little personal,” the rogue smiled. 

     “So is that nickname.”

     “I’ll tell you all if you go out with me,” he said, not missing a beat. 

    Hermione hesitated. “I don’t even know you!” This man could be anyone, and she wasn’t about to walk in blindly. Of course, he saw right through her attempt at dodging.

    “Would Molly Weasley really allow anyone to be on that guest list who wasn't of “upstanding moral fibre,” as she puts it? Because we both know she checked the names on those invitations at least five times before she let them get put in the mail.”

    “...Fine,” Hermione relented after laughing a little. He wasn’t wrong, and he was extremely attractive. But, who  _ was _ he, and how did he know Mrs. Weasley? “On one condition. What’s your name?” 

    “Fred Weasley. And I’ll see you next Friday at Mum’s place at six. Don’t worry, Ickle Ronniekins won’t be there. Honeymoon and all,” Fred winked and got up to grab a drink from the wedding bar, leaving Hermione feeling as if the world was crashing down around her, and Fred Weasley was the sole being responsible for it.

**Author's Note:**

> There will be a second chapter, so don’t worry! Everything does get resolved! But for clarification because I don’t know how much will actually be explained. Hogwarts is an all girl’s boarding school, usually producing the brightest women. They graduate at fourteen or fifteen because of the rigorous schooling, (with the research I’ve done, most schools have their students graduate at sixteen or seventeen) and are huge helpers in the community. Luna is a primary teacher, setting herself up that most of her students are accepted into either Hogwarts or Beauxbatons, the all boy’s boarding school set in Paris. So Luna has been out of uni for six years, and teaching for that long. Harry went to school a little late because of the Dursleys (no surprise there) and so is a little late for uni, but is still a football star, and still is wanted for the draft pick though he is a little old. (I don’t know how English sports work, so I’m just throwing in Canadian and American terms because that’s what I know.) If anything else is confusing, please tell me, and I’ll try to clarify!


End file.
